The Red Sea
by Sinnobaddo
Summary: Jellal Fernandes is the captain of the infamous pirate crew Fairy Tail. Erza Scarlet is the famous bounty hunter "The Scarlet Severer". What happens when these two meet again in the most dangerous waters- The Red Sea, a place where anarchy is the government. In a sea where pirates run free and bounty hunters chase closely after, love and hate are just as untamed as the waves. HIATU
1. Set Sail!

**Hello dear readers! I am Shad, and this is my shitstorm of a story!**

 **I own nothing except for the plot. All right go to Hiro Mashima and Co. Enjoy!**

Set Sail!

"Captain!" a young boy shouted.

"Yes, Romeo?" the captain responded.

"When are we going to set sail?" the young boy asked excitedly.

"When my second and third in command get back," the Captain said back with a smile, "How about you go ahead and board the hip. Your father has already set up his quarters."

The little cabin boy nodded and ran off to find his father aboard the Fairy Tail.

Soon after his departure, two men came running towards the ship, while fighting each other. One had pink hair and the other was half naked.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT WE'RE LATE FLAMEBRAIN!"

"YOU WANNA GO ICE PRINCESS?!"

"NATSU, GRAY! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE BEFORE l ABANDON YOU!" the Captain shouted.

Natsu and Gray boarded the ship, still bickering mind you, and then half-heartedly apologized to their captain.

The captain sighed and boarded his lovely ship. His first in command gave him a look of understanding and motioned him forwards.

"Remind me, why did you recruit those two again?" his first in command, Laxus Dreyer, asked.

"Even I don't know at this point," Jellal said. "They're strong and loyal though, so as long as they don't destroy too much, I don't mind them"

Laxus grunted in agreement and the two headed to the quarter-deck.

Jellal placed his hands on the rail and looked out at his bustling crew as they hurried to ready the boat for a long voyage.

"MEN," JeIIaI announced. All eyes turned towards him and he took in a deep breath. "ONCE WE PASS THROUGH THESE WATERS, WE WILL BE ENTERING DANGEROUS TERRITORY. BOUNTY HUNTERS WILL BE AFTER OUR HEADS. THESE PEOPLE WON'T BE THE SAME AS THE MILITARY SOLDIERS OR THE WEAK BOUNTY HUNTERS THAT WE HAVE FACED BEFORE. THEY ARE ON A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL. STAY ON GUARD, AT THE TOp OF YOUR GAME, AND VIGILANT AND WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO CONQUER THESE WATERS. IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU CAN HANDLE THE DANGERS OF THE RED SEA, I SUGGEST YOU GET OFF THIS SHIP."

There were a couple mummers, but not one crew member budged.  
Jellal smiled.

"I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND I COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD TO HAVE SUCH AN AMAZING CREW ABOARD THE FAIRY TAIL! THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FAMILY!

Jellal raised his arm, cape falling back from his shoulders showing his fairy tail insignia on his shoulder, and made a symbol with his hand. The rest of his pirate crew did the same.

"FAIRIES!" he yelled, "LET US SET SAIL AND CONQUER THIS NEW WORLD!''

Cheers erupted from the main deck. The anchor was pulled up out of the water, the sails unfurled, and the wind pushed the galleon away from the harbor. The crew started to feel the same sense of adventure and freedom that the sea always had to offer as the wind blew through their hair... Ok. Let's be honest here. This is the fucking Fairy Tail crew. Most of the people were already passing out from seasickness. Especially a certain second in command and the ship doctor.

Jellal facepalmed and sweatdropped, wondering again why he had recruited all of these idiots.

Off towards the left of the quarter-deck, Laxus was scolding Natsu and Gajeel for being too weak to defeat seasickness. They were too sick to respond.

Jellal turned and looked at the sea. He couldn't wait to get into the Red Sea. He could taste the adventure, and he sure was ready to take a bite of it.

After Laxus was done scolding (more like tormenting) Natsu and Gajeel, he walked toward Jellal with a smug look.

"There it is, man," Jellal said pointing to a canal separating the Red Sea from the Black Sea."

"Yeah," responded Laxus,"Do you think we'll meet the Scarlet Severer?"

"Most likely, I mean, our total bounty is well over 1,000 million jewels," Laxus said. The two leaned over the rail looking upon their vessel

"With mine at 500, yours at 200, Natsu at 100 along with Gray and Gajeel we do have a pretty big bounty." Jellal chuckled, amazed at the strength of his crew.

"You can't forget to factor in the girls' bounties," Laxus reminded him.

"Of course, I think they'd skin me alive if I ever even pretended to forget about them." The men chuckled as their eyes watched the great canal slowly near, the sense of adventure growing.


	2. Green

**I don't have a Beta so many mistakes shall be seen.**

 **On a brighter note:**

 **During the writing of this chapter, I have found that I have a love of using parentheses.**

 **Once again; I do not own any Fairy Tail characters. All rights go to Hiro Mashima.**

Green

Entering the Red Sea was, somewhat, anticlimactic. The sea was calm and ironically, not red. Jellal was expecting some sort of sea monster to pop out of the water and completely wreck their ship. Not that he wanted that to happen, but all of his adventure-stemmed adrenaline didn't have anywhere to go now and the lack of thrilling excitement kind of put the blue-haired man into a blue personality. He made a speech for this major transition. A _motivational_ speech. That stuff took work!

Jellal sulked and Laxus snickered.

"You know," the blonde man smirked, "now that I look at it, the Red Sea looks a bit _green_."

The emphasis on the word seemed to knock down all of the walls of restraint that Natsu had. The man (now extremely green) scrambled to the side rail and his now digested lunch found itself in the sea.

Laxus, who by the way had been containing his laughs, started to wheeze and tear up a little.

Natsu tried for an indignant guffaw but ended up hurling more of his endless stomach overboard.

"YO FLAMEBRAIN!" Gray managed to shout from across the deck, "YOU'RE MAKING THIS PLACE STINK"

"Y-y-YEAH WELL SO DOES YOUR PERSONALIT-" If Natsu could hang any further off the rail, he just did.

Jallal buried his forehead into the palm of his hand, "Romeo, go get your girlfriend to fix the poor bastard."

The little boy turned red but nonetheless complied.

"Ah, young love," Laxus swooned (in a very manly way of course) and then continued to laugh his ass off at the pathetic sight of Natsu.

"Laxus shut up."

"Whatever you say, Captain."

When Romeo arrived with a shy little girl (why was she on a pirate ship again?) Jellal left his crew and retired to his cabin.

Despite having a small crew, the deck could get quite, er, _rowdy_ a lot. It didn't help that one of his best crew members was so easily seasick.

Jellal raked his hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath and valiantly took out a quill, inkwell, and a small booklet.

He proceeded to right the uneventful, but historical, occurrences of the day.

The man finished his last word with a little swirl and dated the passage. He wiped the quill off and started to put the inkwell away.

He reminded himself to not close his log book until the ink had completely dried (he'd learned his lesson after rewriting many different passages) and the sat back in his chair, which like his bed, was nailed to the floor (don't want that stuff sliding around now do we?).

He kicked his feet up (careful to avoid the drying log book) and let his mind wander as the smell of the salty sea air (and the putrid smell of Natsu's sick) engulfed his senses. He was almost even relaxed. Almost.

Laxus thought that knocking was for the snobbish and promptly burst into Jellal's cabin with booming gusto.

This surprised the shit out of Jellal and the blue haired man fell out of his chair and grabbed for _something_ in an attempt to save himself. Unfortunately, he still fell on his butt, and even worse, the thing he scrambled for just so happened to be his now smudged log book.

Jellal groaned and tried to get some of the smudged ink off of his hand.

Through his laughs, Laxus asked, "Aren't you gonna-*wheeze*- get up?"

Jellal solemnly looked up at his first mate and stayed sitting on the floor.

"Life is fickle and what's the point of even standing when you die lying down anyway?"

"Well, on another note, something exciting has happened this ''fickle' thing known as life that might boost your spirits." Laxus continued on as if emo Jellal was a natural occurrence (it was) and looked expectantly at his captain.

"Man, I'm not getting drunk in the middle of the day." Even Jellal has some standards.

"We're not getting drunk, although you already look pretty tipsy-"

Jellal stood up with tired eyes, "I feel like an old man."

"Anyway," Laxus tried to keep the captain on track, "The ship is under minor attack."

"...What?"

"The ship is under minor attack," Laxus replied with a calm voice that betrayed the information he had just presented.

"How can our ship be under _minor_ attack?!" Jellal waved his arms in confusion, "And why are you just now telling me this?"

"I thought you should go through you emo phase first."

"Answer the first question first."

Laxus made a dismissive gesture with his hand, "Natsu's green lunch seems to have upset the mermaids, and now they're throwing shells at the hull."

"You thought this would cheer me up? Laxus I have to compromise with these people now and you know how the Mers are when they're angry."Jellal whined and stomped out of the cabin. Screw composure, he didn't have any.

Jellal walked up next to Gray and put his best diplomatic face on.

Natsu, who was still stricken with nausea, was currently being glared at by a trio of mermaids.

Two had blue tails and the third had a purple one. Only one of the Mers actually wore a seashell top, much to the disappointment of Romeo's father.

All three Mers were gorgeous and even though their faces were covered in frustration, they looked like goddesses (not that he cared, he had other things to care about).

The Mer in the middle of their trio had a golden circlet on her head. Jellal assumed she was the leader.

"Pirate," circlet lady sneered, "My people and I do not enjoy looking up to the sparkling surface and seeing the digested filth you humans call food."

Jellal cringed and thought, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?

 **Okay. Short chapter, I know, but it's longer than the first so in comparison, it's rather long.**

 **Just to clear the water (Ha, get it?), the main characters that are currently a part of the Fairy Tail crew are:**

 **Jellal, Laxus, Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Cana, Romeo, Macao, Gajeel, Levy, Evergreen, and Wendy.**

 **Thanks for reading**

 **~Shad**


	3. Geopolitics and Cake

**I do not own FT, all rights go to Hiro Mashima and all that jazz.**

Geopolitics and Cake

On a different ship in a different part of the sea, two men stood straight at the bow. One had a hash mark like scar lining his left cheek and the other wore his hair in a knot at the nape of his neck and a stern expression (maybe it was the glasses). Both wore blue uniforms and had white capes fluttering behind them. The uniforms displayed the insignia of the Rune Knights: the soldiers of the Magic Council. Each man had a silver rapier hanging at their waste- the handles etched with intricate designs.

"Every day, more and more pirate ships cross into these water," the man with the glasses spoke with steely anger, "and there's nothing we can do about it." His fist shook, balled with anger, and he let out a deep breath. He stretched out his fingers in an attempt to calm himself.

His partner looked at him, and let his rigid composure fall. He rested his arms on the rail and let his back slump.

"It's a pirate's dream to reach the Red Sea, Lahar," the other man commented, "This place is like a Cathedral to a thief. We can't get them here- it's practically lawless."

"I know Doranbolt-" the man was interrupted by a pointed look from the other," _Mest_ , but it makes me angry how we're on such a tight leash!" By now Lahar's military composure had also been dropped and the man let his anger and frustration lace his words.

Mest sighed, "You know we can't do anything without the council's permission-"

"And the council doesn't have the power to give permission here." Lahar finished with a glare at the distance, "But of all the places we get assigned to, we get sent here with just this ship in the biggest and dangerous sea. We're practically useless here!" When Lahar was assigned to keep watch in the Red Sea, his pride had been slightly dented. Wasn't he more important to the council than this?! He was a captain for God's sake!

"Small world, big risks." Mest listlessly shrugged.

Lahar scoffed, "Pretty damn big world to me."

Earthland was split into three continents; Fiore, Alverez, and Edolas. Edolas was mostly unexplored area and was generally viewed as uncharted territory. That is, until Alvarez started growing and claiming much of Edolas. Alverez had originally been a small continental kingdom with a struggling economy. Then the old king stepped down and a new one took the reins.

Under the new rule, Alveraz conquered lands and claimed half of the Edolas continent. Fiore, in an attempt to keep its land, made a deal with the growing continent; Alverez could have the entire Red Sea as long as they left Fiore alone. The empire agreed, and Fiore was safe. Alverez took the Red Sea and labeled it a National Grey Area, or in other words, No Man's land. Governments, other than the Empire's, were rendered practically powerless. The Red Sea, and all of its island inhabitants, soon became its own unofficial continent (though the technical definition of a continent involves the word "land") with Alverez silently presiding over it.

"I just don't get why we're even here…" Mest trailed off. He knew the Council couldn't do anything here, unless, of course, they wanted to wage a war with Alverez.

"I guess we have to do as much as we're able, at the least," Lahar's current anger had subsided as he went back his calm and put together composure.

"But we can't actually take people in, unlike Bounty Hunters. All we can do is stop a crime from happening." Mest didn't completely understand the politics of it all, everything just seemed fucked up.

Lahar faced Mest with a glimmer in his eye, "Yes, but we can chase our wanted criminals into places that we have jurisdiction."

"True, but we have to deal with those pesky Bounty Hunters," Mest pointed out.

"Always swooping in and taking our criminals, just for the money," Lahar admitted, it got pretty annoying.

"I swear they're like the Mafia," Mest chuckled.

"...The what?" Lahar's face contorted in confusion.

"Er, it's a book."

"Oh," Lahar nodded.

The two men stood leaning on the rail looking off into the distance in a comfortable silence. Lahar turned on his heel, his cape fluttering behind him, and regally walked to his office.

Mest looked back with a startled expression, "Are we still carrying out your plan?"

"We leave arrive in Hargeon in a week." Lahar looked over his shoulder with a determined expression.

Mest nodded and he too heaved himself up to continue with his work.

He just hoped the bounty hunters wouldn't get away like the last time….

~x~

In yet another ship, this one docked at a harbor, a young woman sneezed. She rubbed her nose as her friend gave her a concerned "bless you."

"Are you not well?" her friend asked, eyebrows creased with concern.

"Oh it's nothing Erza," the girl waved the other's concerned off with a dismissive tone.

Erza looked up with a playful smile, "You know Lucy…"

Lucy hummed back in response.

"A stranger in a bar once told me that when you sneeze like that, someone somewhere is talking about you.''

Lucy raised her eyebrows, "Someone's talking about me behind my back!" She feigned anger.

Erza snorted, "Oh no, We can't have that! We shall find this fiend and make him atone for his crime!" She planted her fist on her desk with a sense of joking affirmation.

Both girls erupted into hysterical laughter.

A knock was heard at the cabin door.

"Erza, I have your cake-."

Erza stopped her laughing and shouted, "THANK YOU BISCA!"

The redhead jumped out of her chair and quickly opened the door to escort her sniper in.

"I also have some new bounty posters," Bisca said after she placed a slice of strawberry cake in front of Erza, whose mouth was watering.

Lucy perked up, "Oh really? Let's go! I need more rent money."

"Lucy, why do you need rent money? You live on this boat." Bisca handed the bounty posters to the awaiting blonde.

"I have a family to support too you know." Lucy flipped through the posters. "Why must all these pirates be so attractive?! Oh, wait- nevermind."

Bisca laughed as she exited the room.

"OH MY GOD ERZA RAISE THE SAILS!" Lucy exclaimed as she practically jumped onto Erza's desk.

Said woman was relishing her cake and looking up with a startled expression. "Why Lucy?"

Lucy spoke with a frantic and excited voice, "There's a crew that has a combined bounty of over 100 million jewels!"

Erza nearly spit out her cake. "What is the crew called?"

"The Fairy Tail Pirates, and they pirate the ship called the, Fairy Tail?" Lucy trailed off in confusion.

"Why would they name their ship after the crew?" Erza asked while placing her fork down.

"How should I know?" Lucy continued, "Anyway, their first mate is named Laxus Dreyer and thier captain is a, Jellal Fernandes- is that how you pronounce it?"

Lucy's bewilderment was interrupted by the sound of metal clanging against a plate. She looked up in surprise to see Erza's fork on her plate and the last bit of cake untouched.

"Erza?" Lucy asked tentatively, "Is something wrong?"  
With a shaky voice Erza said, "No, everything's fine." She pushed her unfinished cake away

"Are you sure?" Lucy was worried, "You never leave your cake unfinished."

Erza breathed in, "Lucy, please leave."

"But Erz-"

"Just go." Erza's voice became steely and Lucy got up to leave.

As Lucy left, Erza got up to look at the bounty posters.

Lucy felt a tremor of fear, for when the mighty Scarlet Severer became this way, not everyone was safe.

She quickly made her way out of the office and onto the deck. When she closed the door, she heard a frustrated growl and the sound of a knife hitting a wall.

Had she gone back in, she would have seen a bounty poster displaying the face of the Fairy Tail captain pinned to the cabin wall with a knife sticking out of the neck.

 **And done.**

 **Characters being OOC but it's fanfiction and I'm not good at writing soooo.**

 **As of now this has been the longest chapter so far so yay!**

 **One thing about this story you should know; character's roles in this fic aren't entirely based on who they are in the anime or manga, if that makes any sense.**

 **Anyway, feel free to comment and give me constructive criticism.**

 **~Shad**


	4. In the Big City

**I own nothing, my dudes.**

In The Big City

The island of Magnolia was the central hub of the Red Sea. Every day its ports docked new ships and its streets bustled with people and vendor's stands. If one looked hard enough, he (or she) would spot a "retired" pirate enjoying the simplicities of a local bar. The island had started out as a large trading port for all three of the Continents to use. After the Red Sea became its own unofficial continent, Magnolia's population and popularity grew. The inland scenery was beautiful and the entire island was habitable- it was the shining island. The island became the ideal place to settle down. But like any other "shining city" the high demand to make a life for oneself was not met with an equal return. Many people who came from small farming islands ended up jobless and living in the slums of the island. Becoming successful in Magnolia was a tall order, but met with a great award.

Mirajane Strauss viewed herself as one of the select few that "made it" in the city island. She owned a fairly popular bar and could easily sustain herself. She and her two siblings moved to the island when they were all but children and worked odd jobs to get where they were. Mirajane had gotten her hands on an empty building when she was seventeen and used all of her saving to start up a bar. Her warm and motherly personality attracted many people and soon her bar became one of the best in Magnolia.

Mira had been running her bar for seven years now, and she could proudly say that she was finally content with her place in life. Washing dishes and breaking up drunken fights admittedly didn't seem very appealing to the general public, but to Mira, it made her feel complacent.

She had nice customers, fun regulars, and interesting travelers. She loved to listen in on the many adventure stories that different foreigners exchanged over a mug of beer.

Mira always wore a small smile that was purely genuine. Mira and her bar were practically the hidden gems of Magnolia.

Anyway, said practical momma angel was serving a weary man a small warm meal which he thanked her for.

Another tip about Mira- her cooking was that of the heavens.

As the evening came, the crowds of people slowly trickled into her humble cavern.

One customer in particular unceremoniously dumped himself on a bar stool to Mira's put his head on the counter and let his arms dangle.

Mira looked at him, pursed her upper lip, and sighed. She beckoned Kinnana, one of her star employees, and asked if she could cover for her.

The sweet bluenette said yes and Mira promised her a few extra jewels in her pocket.

Mira made her way over to the depressed looking man.

She sat herself down in front of him and put her chin in the palms of her hands.

"I assume that the date didn't turn out the way you hoped."

The man looked up with a sad wounded puppy look in his eyes.

"Oh, Mira!" The man exclaimed, "It went horribly!"

He hurried his face in his hands and groaned, "I thought he was the one you know? He was smart and quirky and really everything I was looking for." The man sniffled a bit, "But he was so, so…."

Mira egged him on.

"...Annoying!" the man found his words, "he nitpicked over everything, criticized the waitress, and had no sense of decorum! He was absolutely atrocious Mira!"

Mira patted the man's back.

"Now, now Freed," she spoke with soothing words, " I'm sure you'll find the person you're looking for."

"I've been looking for _years_ ," Freed wailed.

"Well sometimes, you just have to keep trying," the silver-haired woman said.

"Maybe I should just give up," Freed grumbled. His normally pristine hair was slightly tangled and his little "antennae" hairs weren't as perky.

"I don't ever want to hear you say that at in Justine." Her voice went from soothing to a bit more commanding. "You're the man of some other man's dreams somewhere, so go find them and have a happy ending."

Freed whined, "But I've looked so hard and found nothing."

"Then keep looking." Mira promptly stood up and got the sulking green man a glass of ginger ale (alcohol and a moping Freed don't mix). Freed graciously accepted the PG-rated drink and sipped it intermittently.

If you haven't already gotten the message, Freed was gay- and a hopeless romantic.

Mira sat down again and took a sip of water (yes water- when you work 24/7 in a bar, water is the best way to go).

"You never know, Freed," she mused, "Your dream guy could be a dashing pirate come to sweep you off of your feet!"

Freed snorted into his glass.

"I hope he doesn't literally sweep me off my feet though."

Mira laughed herself and said, "Yes you do you romance nut."

"Says the one that enjoys playing matchmaker," the Freed mumbled.

Mira chuckled, "You got me there."

"Anyway, do you have any feelings for anyone?" Freed got tired of talking about his depressing love life.

"I'm not really cut out for that life-" Mira paused," I just want to focus on the bar."

"Whatever works for you." Freed downed his (ginger) ale, "Thanks, Mira, you always know how to make me feel better."

Freed smiled, recomposed himself and waved Mira goodbye.

She waved back and continued drinking her water. What she said was true- she wasn't interested in starting any relationships, any of her own anyway. She wasn't broken. It wasn't as if her heart had been shattered by a past lover- she just wasn't interested.

Mira sat there fiddling with her glass and just thinking- reminiscing about the earlier years.

"Hey Mira," Kinnana said, "The bar is getting a bit crowded…"

Mira snapped out of her daze.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The white-haired girl apologized, "I'll be right over! Don't forget to remind me about that extra cash."

Mira washed her glass out and then proceeded to take her awaiting customer's orders.

 **~X~**

In every world, there will always be some sort of segregation because if ignorant animosity.

In this world's case, Mermaids were the subject to, er, _harsher_ treatment. A few centuries back, all _legal_ hostility was eradicated and most social tensions were lessened. But, the time hasn't erased all of the bad history.

A rather racial word one used for Mermaids was "Mer". The last thing someone wants to call a Mermaid is a Mer.

One of Jellal's crew members did just that and Jellal was seriously considering jumping off of his boat into the sea.

Someone had just shouted it and when the word left their mouth, the already scowling Mermaid went from angry to a mood that could be described as "fucking angrier than hell".

Jellal waved his hands in a flustered matter, "I am so sorry for that- he didn't mean any harm-"

"I don't care what he meant by it- he has used a forbidden word against me and my girls!"

If looks could kill, the entire world would be dead ten times over. Yeah, Jellal was seriously considering jumping off of this damn boat.

If things couldn't get worse, Gray started rambling about the injustice in the world (kinda ironic considering he's a bloody _pirate_ ) to the blue haired girl next to the circlet lady. And the girl seemed to be taking it like sugar.

Jellal cut Gray off (much to the disdain of the Mermaid) and turned to speak to Circlet Lady with a brilliant idea forming in his mind.

"Miss…"

" _Lady_ Aquarius to you _pirate,_ " she seethed.

Jellal nodded, "Lady Aquarius, we have a proposal for you."

"Wait we do?" Natsu asked wearily. His sea sickness was starting to fade a little- his body getting used to the chewing waves.

Gray nudged the boy in the robs to tell him to shut up and almost started a fight- until Laxus hit them both on the head.

"Er, we would like to have our wonderful musician Gajeel perform a bit of his not yet released major album!" Jellal was grasping at strings here.

The girl with purple hair finally spoke up, "Wait?! As in THE Gajeel Redfox?! The international sensation?! The Shoobie Doo Dah Dude?!"

And then Jellal did something stupid- he made finger guns, _finger guns_ , "That's the guy!"

"Oh my gosh," purple hair started to hyperventilate.

"I'll even throw in a free autograph as an apology for that accident."

"OH _PLEASE_ LADY AQUARIUS!"

After a lot of begging the lady finally gave in.

"Fine-" Jellal let out a sigh of relief, "but if we catch you again…"

She let the threat linger and one could hear all of the tough pirates gulp.

Jellal nodded and summoned Gajeel, who was sleeping for some reason, and told him to get his guitar.

After a few minutes of waiting, the man arrived in front of the trio of Mermaids and said, "Alright ladies, since this is an unaudited performance, please keep what you hear here a secret."

And then he started to "Shoobie."

Jellal thanked the sea for his musician and his popularity.

Suddenly, the jumping into the sea didn't seem quite as appealing as it did before.

 **Longer chapter!**

 **~Shad**


	5. Barrels

Barrels

Though everyone on the ship enjoyed Gajeel's company, they never really truly appreciated his singing talent and fame until now. His shoobies and doo-das saved the crew from certain doom. Even Natsu gave a begrudging thank you to his backup rival (for when Gray was too busy).

Jellal made a mental note to give Natsu a personal upchuck bucket.

The Mermaids let the _Fairy Tail_ off with a warning and sent them off with pointed glares, the most terrifying belonging to the Lady Aquarius.

If Jellal didn't have the slightest bit of dignity (believe it or not he actually did) he would have hugged Gajeel Koala style. He instead opted for a congratulatory handshake and a captain-y saying.

"Wonderful performance Gajeel, I knew you would be able to get us out of that little knot."

Gajeel grunted in return and proceeded to take a nap, on his guitar, in the middle of the main deck.

Jellal sweatdropped. All the praise he had for the man was pretty short-lived. Jellal let him rest and walked up to his pink haired crew member. Luckily, Natsu's seasick only lasted for a few hours. Unluckily, every time they let the idiot on land, he just got sick all over again when he back on the sea. Sure, Natsu's little predicament got annoying, but the boy was a great and loyal crew member and companion.

Whenever Jellal looked at his crew, he felt a little bit of pride flare in his chest- these group of eccentric weirdos were a part of his crew, hell they were _family_. To be able to find companions and regard them that high was rare. Jellal, like many of his crew, was an orphan with no parents to claim his name. He didn't hail from a bloodline with a deep history and strong roots. He was just a bastard child born into an orphanage. But despite all that, he'd managed to make it this far and he was proud of that.

"Natsu," Jellal said to the poor guy.

"Yeessss?" was his reply.

"I'm getting you your personal bucket when we dock at Hargeon."

"But I don't need my own chamber pot..." Natsu was pretty confused. They hadn't used chamber pots in the last century.

Jellal facepalmed.

"He meant that he's getting you a bucket to throw up in flame brain." Gray glared at Natsu and punched him over the head.

"Oh. Okay." Natsu took a minute to register Gray's insult, "Hey wait a minute." It clicked, "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME ICE PRINCESS?!"

And thus the two started fighting, Natsu's seasickness completely gone and forgotten.

Jellal could feel veins in his forehead start to pop.

Apparently, the two idiot's boisterous activity didn't just make Jellal tick. Their bickering was loud enough to awake the slumbering Gajeel. The fact that Natsu accidentally punched the guy also might have contributed to his grand awakening.

To say the least, Gajeel was not happy to wake up with a fist in his face and shouting all around him (although technically it was his fault for sleeping in the middle of the god damned deck). He proceeded to grab a drumstick from who knows where and jab Natsu in the gut with it. The pink haired pirate was thrown horribly off guard and made a comical face as a reaction to the future bruise on his abdomen.

Gray was laughing so hard there were tears in the corner of his eyes, until Gajeel turned around and punched him in the face.

Gray "oomfed" and he and Natsu got ready to take down the third party. Not as a team though- every man for himself in this situation.

Jellal was too tired to stop them and Laxus was too busy doi- come to think of it, Laxus wasn't doing anything. He was just standing next to the wheel and watching everyone. So really, Jellal thought, Laxus was too _lazy_ to do anything.

So the three men fought. The fight wasn't like some duel of masters, it just looked like your average bar fight with a bit more precision. The entire ordeal at this point just looked like a giant cloud of dust with a few limbs protruding from it.

Luckily, the rest of the crew was somewhat used to this chaos and the amount of collateral was kept on low. In the streets, a fight of this caliber would be surrounded by a large crowd of people chanting "fight" over and over again.

Here, however, it was practically the opposite. Everyone basically ignored them and went about their work. This didn't phase the men, they just wanted to take down their rival. Screw it if they didn't get a crowd of people urging their anger on.

All of Jellal's planned complements and sentiments from earlier had vanished and were replaced with the strong feeling of frustration and fatigue.

The fighting men (boys) were rolling around all over the deck giving innocent bystanders their daily dodging training. Even Wendy managed to avoid random attacks with ease. She, however, could not block the profane, and somewhat weird, strings of curses coming from the three-man ball of destruction.

Now Jellal had no idea why he even had children on his pirate crew but nevertheless, he planned to raise them as properly as he could (law abiding morals or not). So he placed poor Wendy in behind him and covered her innocent ears. Laxus noticed the motherly gesture (yes Jellal you are a complete mom) and shouted at the men, "THERE ARE KIDS HERE YOU DOLTS!"

"FUCK OFF LAXUS!" was his reply.

Laxus, one who does not take to impolite comments easily, jumped from his perch next to the wheel and knocked all three of the brawling men on the head.

Laxus not only doesn't knock, he also doesn't hold back very well so the three (Jellal honestly did not understand how Laxus managed to punch all three at the same time) went tumbling.

Gajeel and Gray were lucky enough to land in some excess rigging. Natsu, however, flew into an unsuspecting barrel. As the pink man crashed into the barrel, a scream was emitted and a blue-haired woman tumbled out.

Natsu was now sporting two nasty bumps on his head and there was a complete stranger half concealed by a barrel.

Jellal uncovered Wendy's ears and cautiously made his way over to the woman, her face obscured by her hair.

As he neared he noticed that her hair rolled up into a curl at the bottom like a wave and she was wearing a blue shirt of rags. She looked familiar.

When Jellal got barely two steps away from the girl, she "eeped" and jumped up. All she had to keep her decency was a few falling wraps of seaweed.

Needless to say there were a lot of bloody noses (mostly just Macao and Wakaba).

The girl ran, on very wobbly legs, and crouched behind a now somewhat recovered Gray.

"Wait, Juvia?!"

 **~X~**

"For Christ's sake, Lucy calm down. I'm sure Erza's fine." Bisca Connell admired her handiwork with her rifle.

"But, she just seems so _off_." Lucy draped the unconscious man's arm around her neck. "Come on Bisca, help me. This dude is heavy."

"Oh alright." Bisca took the man's other arm and helped Lucy throw him into a small wagon. His once white shirt was riddled with singed holes and his striped red pants were torn at the cuffs. The man was even missing a shoe on one foot.

"You know, I didn't expect this man to be a psychopathic arson," Lucy said, breathing heavy. Damn men were hard to lift.

"Everyone has to bow to a bullet sometime." Bisca patted her rifle with a proud smile, "Besides, it's not like he could handle the flames. He accidentally burned himself trying to ward you off." The green haired sharpshooter gave a laugh.

"True, but thanks for getting me out of that. I thought he was going to do some serious damage to my face."  
"Lucy, you have got to stop relying on other people to get you out of a tight spot." Bisca turned serious, "I don't want you to have to learn that the hard way."

"Yeah yeah, I know," Lucy looked away, "But this is _Bora_."

"A human trafficker that is the head of a pretty notorious gang. He's not all talk Lucy." Bisca reprimanded her.

"Well thank you anyway." This wasn't the first time someone had told Lucy this. She's just more of a team player. Going at something alone and keeping that solo mindset was a pretty foreign thing to her.

Bisca sighed and slung her trusty weapon over her back.

"Come on Lucy, let's drop this guy off at the nearest Bounty Retrieval Office." Bisca grabbed the handles on the cart and beckoned the other woman.

"Okay. I'm still worried about Erza though. She seemed pretty freaked out before," Lucy said.

"Erza will tell us what's wrong, if anything, when she wants to. There's no use in doting her with concern-" Bisca stopped a random person on the street, "You wouldn't happen to know where the nearest Bounty Station is?"

"Aye lass. Youl' jus 'aveto go down this 'ere street an' turn right."

"Thank you," Lucy said and turned back to Cana, "Oh alright, but I'm still going to worry."

The two followed the man's directions and turned onto a cobbled road that had a smaller amount of people on it than the last. In fact, the street was nearly deserted. There were a few loiterers wandering idly in circles in front of deserted and run-down shacks.

The road ended at an old, worn brick wall.

"Uh Cana," Lucy looked around, "I don't think this is the right place."

"Yeah," Cana mused, "I mean the fact that there isn't a Bounty Station here kinda gives it away."

"That and the fact that we are surrounded by a group of gangsters."

"Ah."

"So you thought you could take down the mighty Salamander!" Lucy felt the wagon shift and she and Cana whipped their heads around.

Atop of their little cart stood a somewhat battered and singed Bora.

Canna groaned. "Well fuck."


	6. Oblivious

**AN: So I plan to update each weekend, but don't hold me to this.**

Gray Fullbuster was one of Jellal's finest crew members. A good swimmer, sailor, soldier-a jack of all trades, really. However, even the greatest of men had their strange quirks and Jellal found out quite quickly that Gray was no exception.  
Jellal had first met Gray near the beginning of his journey on an island off of the eastern coast of Fiore. Back then, it had just been Jellal and Laxus braving the early sea with a small ship that was barely bigger than a fishing boat. Before Gray joined and made the duo a trio, he had worked as a stripper on Peak Island. This island had temperatures that never went about 45 degrees (about 7 degrees Celsius) and Gray happened to be someone with an amazing tolerance to the cold. When Gray joined Jellal's newborn crew, the clothing that he was wearing at the base of the gangplank had mysteriously disappeared by the time he stepped foot on the deck leaving him in only his boxers. Needless to say, Gray tends to lose his clothes a lot.  
Now back to the present. Jellal stared at Gray who was, as usual, wearing nothing but underwear. But unlike usual, there was a half-naked blue-haired woman clinging to his bare torso. The poor guy was almost wearing the girl as a back plate.  
"Wasn't she a mermaid, like, one hour ago?" Romeo asked. The boy squinted at the new arrival with confusion while slapping his unconscious father's face. Macao had passed out from his nose bleed.  
"Yes she was, and now the poor thing has all of you staring at her with lecherous eyes!" Levy pushed her way to Juvia with Wendy in tow shooing all of the men away. Wendy managed to pry the terrified girl off of the equally as terrified Gray and herd her into the room the girls shared. Levy slammed the door in Jellal's face and called him a pervert.  
Levy was Jellal's resident navigator and was an excellent cartographer. She was also one of the crew's few women and a well respected one at that. Levy poked her head out and gave a pointed look at Jellal, "Sorry but not sorry Captain."  
He heard a hearty chuckle behind him and turned to glare at Laxus. "And what are you laughing at?"  
"Well captain," Laxus drawled, "Such a man of your stature on this fine ship just got called, hmm now what was that word that Levy so eloquently proclaimed." Laxus pretended to ponder the thought and then turned to Levy and motioned for her to help him out.  
"A pervert." Levy played along, much to the chagrin of Jellal.  
"Ah yes!" Laxus let his face light up and famed excitement, "A pervert!" The blonde man had to hold his stomach because he was laughing so hard. The quirk that the fine Laxus had was that he can be a real prick sometimes (more like all the time) and Jellal found this out and was reminded of it every day.  
Levy looked at Laxus with her brow raised and decided that she was done humoring him. "And you're not allowed in either!" That caught Laxus off-guard. He made a questioning face.  
Levy continued, "I don't care if you're gayer than a rainbow unicorn. This girl needs her privacy and I will not let her feel like she's being subject to lewd fantasies!" She slammed the door in both of their faces and now, it was Jellal's turn to keel over in laughter.  
"So in short," Jellal said thoughtfully, "Levy basically just told you to keep your gay ass out." There were tears in Jellal's eyes and Laxus did not look amused.  
"Shove off pervert."  
"Make me rainbow unicorn." Jellal was having fun with this.  
"She didn't even call me that you dick." Laxus crossed his arms and loomed over Jellal. Well as much as he could because the two were almost the same height.  
Jellal snorted into his hand. "But she said she didn't care if you liked said dicks more than a rainbow unicorn."  
"You know what man," Laxus snapped his head towards Jellal with newfound vigor, "I came out here to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now."  
"I came out here to attack and I'm honestly having a good time." Laxus scowled and stomped upstairs to complain to his friend Bickslow who was supposed to be on lookout yelling, "I spend the night with a dude ONE TIME and now everyone thinks I'm gay!"  
Face still smirking, Jellal knocked on the door of the girls' quarters.  
"So what are we gonna do with her?" Jellal addressed the question of importance. "I'm fine with keeping her in the crew but that's her decision."  
The voice that responded didn't belong to any of the girls on Jellal's crew. "Juvia will follow Gray-sama everywhere he goes! If Gray-sama is a part of this crew, then so is Juvia!"  
So in short, Juvia joined the crew and Jellal hoped that there were some extra clothes that she could borrow.  
Gray, still wearing only his boxers, was sitting on the deck in confusion. Jellal decided to take the initiative and help Gray come to terms with the situation.  
As Jellal neared the half-naked man he asked, "You okay there Gray?"  
Gray stood up and dusted off his pant- boxers. "I just don't get why she's here. I mean, was she kicked out for talking to me or something like that?"  
Jellal chuckled and pat his underling on the back. Oh, how naive he was.  
"Gray, my man," Jellal clucked, "Our new crew member came because she wanted to be closer to you, not because she was forced out of her home."  
"But why would she want to be closer to me?" Gray's face contorted in confusion.  
"Because she's inspired by you!" Jellal exclaimed. "She wants to be like you!"  
"Oh."  
"THAT'S NOT WHY SHE'S HERE YOU IDIOT!" Laxus shouted from his perch with Bixlow.  
"OH YEAH?!" Jellal shouted right back.  
Laxus facepalmed and jumped down. "She's infatuated with you Gray."  
"Eh?"  
"Huh, I didn't think of it that way," Jellal mused. Laxus punched Jellal in the head.  
"You're a fucking idiot and I hope you know that."  
Jellal rubbed his throbbing skull and glared at Laxus.  
Romeo poked the abused Captain and pointed at the now setting sun.  
"Already then end of the day huh."Jellal regained his composure and turned to his bustling crew. "Get the ship ready for autopilot- dinner will be ready in the mess hall when you're done!"  
The mention of dinner struck the crew with new inspiration, as it always did, and they hurried to get the ship ready.

 **~X~**

Bisca and Lucy readied their weapons as the "mighty Salamander" loomed over them. One of his blue hairs was on fire, which would have been very comical if the actual situation weren't so concerning. Bisca raised her gun, positioned immediately on the defensive. Her muscles tense with apprehension.  
"Listen, Ladies," Salamander spoke as he patted the flame on his head out, "You two were pretty good, but none can truly defeat me-AHHH."  
Salamander fell off of his cart and landed on his butt with a resounding "thump". The man winced as he arose, let out a few curses, and rubbed his sore rear with a look of shame.  
"Uh, do we take him out again?" Lucy whispered to Bisca.  
Bisca nodded slowly and gave Lucy a small nudge. The blonde took the motion as an important signal and flung her whip at Bora, who was still rubbing his ass like a wounded dog and watched it wrap around him as his new set of chains.  
Bisca wasted no time and immediately shot all of the surrounding men.  
"Well, what do we do now?" Lucy asked as she secured Bora's ropes.  
"Let's just take the man back to the ship," Bisca said as she dragged an unconscious dude into the heap of knocked out men, "We can ask Erza what to do when we get there.''  
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lucy did not want to bother an upset Erza, knowing full well that Erza did not want to be bothered.  
"It's the only option we have." Bisca put her hand on her hip, "Besides, if we pretend whatever happened back on the ship didn't happen, it might help her mood."  
"I guess," Lucy replied begrudgingly. "Now help me put this guy back into the cart.''  
The two women made their way back down the streets and to the harbor. Bora tried to escape a few more times, but his attempts were futile and he always wound up with tighter ropes tying him down to the wagon and a loaded gun pointed at his head.  
They walked up the gang-plank of their tiny galleon (quite the oxymoron) and tied Bora to one of the masts on the main deck.  
"Might I ask a question girls?" a foreboding voice said as a shadow loomed over Lucy and Bisca, the warm temperature becoming icy.  
Both women froze, and Bora let out a tiny "eep."  
The woman turned and looked up at their fearless leader, the great Scarlet Severer.  
"Uh, hey Erza...," Lucy replied meekly.  
Erza raised an eyebrow at the tied and gagged criminal that was bound the mast.  
Bisca stood up with a look of apathy. "Listen Erza," she pointed at said person, "We couldn't find anywhere to dump this scoundrel." She kicked Bora with the heel of her boot when she said that.  
"Who is this man again?" Erza asked, eyebrow still high on her forehead.  
Bora sputtered and began to angrily introduce himself. The gag was still firmly secured to his mouth so everything he said came out as a "Mrpph murmphhh."  
Erza gave Lucy a look, who had stood up. The blonde untied their captive's gag and held immediately wiped her hands on her skirt.  
Bora spat on the ground at Erza's boots and said, "Listen lady, I am the magnificent Salamander, and if I wasn't tied up right now, I would have burned you for underestimating m-urmph!" Erza shoved the gag back on him.  
"Salamader's bounty isn't looking finding a station," she said with a stone cold glare.  
Bora muffled in protest but was quickly shut up with a glare from all three of the women.  
"Then what do we do with him?" Lucy asked. "I don't want to leave him running loose in the streets. He's caused enough trouble for many innocent women already!"  
Bisca nodded in agreement, "I don't think we should just simply let him go."  
Erza thought for a moment as she looked down at Bora.  
"I've got it!" She exclaimed, "We'll tie him to the mast and take him with us!"  
"That's a great idea- wait, where exactly are we going?" Bisca asked, interrupting herself.  
"We're going to Magnolia," Erza stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
"Uh, why?" Lucy asked, growing even more confused.  
"Because the Fairy Tail crew will be there and I want to see an old friend of mine." Erza winked and turned her back to the two other women and commanded that a course be set for Magnolia promptly, leaving the other two women wondering who Erza's "old friend" could possibly be.

 **So who is the friendo? Find out next time (because I've always wanted to write a cliffhanger that no one cares about).**


End file.
